High Street Culture
Find out what’s coming up in our four-year programme of cultural activity across England's High Streets Heritage Action Zones, continuing until 2024.
Restoring key historic buildings will bring vacant floor space back into use and a handful of historic shop fronts will be revived to improve the character of Maryport's high street.
There will also be community and cultural projects that celebrate Maryport's special heritage.
Maryport is something of a hidden gem. It was a planned town, created by the Senhouse family in the 18th century, who transformed the small fishing village into a coal port.
Its Roman links, historic harbour and grid of attractive Georgian and Victorian streets give it a certain charm, whilst its main high street is an intimate and colourful shopping street. But after the decline of the local shipbuilding, steel and iron industries, Maryport struggled to thrive and today several of its landmark buildings stand vacant with their condition deteriorating.
The High Street Heritage Action zone will include £592,500 of Government funding, delivered by Historic England. The project will see repair projects on key sites that will bring vacant floor space back into use. A handful of shop fronts will be restored and a design guide for future shop fronts will also be produced to “future proof” the character of the high street.
Drawing on the town's layers of history and its striking coastline, the cultural programme will see poets, writers, musicians and artists develop dynamic events that bring people together and foster a sense of pride in Maryport.
Find out what’s coming up in our four-year programme of cultural activity across England's High Streets Heritage Action Zones, continuing until 2024.
Below you can find just some of the progress being made in the Maryport High Street Heritage Action Zone. For more, follow us on Twitter @HistoricEngland
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